Baker Hughes reports that US drillers have cut back on oil and gas drilling for the second consecutive week.

Baker Hughes, an energy services firm, said that U.S. firms have cut the number of oil and gas rigs for the second week in a row for the first time since march.

The number of oil and gas drilling rigs, a good indicator of future production, dropped by two in the week ending April 17 to 543, the lowest level since late March.

Baker Hughes reported that the total number of rigs is down 42 or 7% from this time last week.

Baker Hughes said oil rigs dropped by one this week to 410, the lowest level since late March. Gas rigs also fell, by two, to 125, the lowest level since January. Other miscellaneous drilling rigs increased by one, to eight.

Oil and gas rig counts declined by 7%, 5%, and 20% in 2025 as energy firms focused more on increasing shareholder returns and paying off debt than increasing production.

The financial services firm TD Cowen reported that the exploration and production firms it tracks plan to spend 1% less in capital expenditures by 2026 than they did in?2025.

This compares to a decrease of around 4% by 2025, a flattish year-on-year in 2024 and increases of approximately 27%, 40%, and 4% respectively in 2023 and 2022. The 'U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted that crude production would fall from a record 13.6 million barrels a day in 2025, to 13.5 millions bpd by 2026. The 'EIA' projected that gas production would increase from a record of 107.7 billion cu ft/day in 2025 to an estimated 109.6 Bcfd by 2026. Spot prices at the U.S. Henry Hub in Louisiana are forecast to rise about 4%.

(source: Reuters)